Leadership Styles 9/14/17

Leadership Styles* The Mission Command Workshop is on the 26th. Part of that material will be Daniel Goleman's book; Leadership that Gets Results. Goleman describes 6 styles of leadership including: visionary, coaching, affiliative, democratic, pacesetting and commanding. Visionary is the most positive and in many ways the most powerful. Perhaps you have heard the words of King Solomon "Where there is no vision, the people perish" (Proverbs 29:18). Unlike visualization, where you manipulate something in your mind that already exists, visioning is imagining something that does not exist. Steven Covey says, "everything is created twice," first in the mind and then in the corporeal world. Visioning is the first step of creation. The leader determines the vision, "casts" the vision (communication), then works to bring the organization into alignment with the vision. As Goleman notes, visionary leadership is very powerful since the leader can give feedback, without offending followers, because it's about the vision not the individual. Visionary leadership is powerful approach in many settings including the workplace the community and the family. Any group of people who have a clear idea of their purpose, mission and goals will be happier, more fulfilled and more willing to cooperate. Army Leadership Doctrine: ADRP 6-22, 1-19 the Mission Command philosophy is designed to "enable disciplined initiative" and empower "critical and creative problem solvers." 6-5 through 6-21 bears some similarities to Goleman's 6 styles and 6-22 to 41 describes some methods to achieve mission success. However, these paragraphs do demonstrate the difference between Goleman and Army doctrine. The Army model is generally more authoritative (perhaps what Goleman would call commanding). For a quick overview of the 6 styles see the video with Goleman at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkadAhDnPYk For a fascinating essay on the creative process by Isaac Asimov go to https://www.technologyreview.com/s/531911/isaac-asimov-asks-how-do-people-get-new-ideas/ The quote above by Covey is from his book, "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People." *This is a personal reflection based on my own experience. Please feel free to respond to with your own observations. ** For a religious thought consider Acts 2:17. From a human and spiritual perspective (non-theistic) consider "A Force for Good: The Dalai Lama's Vision for Our World" by Daniel Goleman.